BodyPUMP Release 84 Review

How’s it going? I am so excited tomorrow is Friday. Not gonna lie-this week was intense to the max. I love everything I do, but for some reason, everything seemed wayyyy over the top intense. It’s okay to love what you do AND look forward a bit to the weekend, I think. 😉

Alrighty.

I have taught BP release 84 now 5 times (3 of them full classes), so I think I am ready to review this release!

I loooovveee teaching BodyPUMP. Love it. It’s been a passion of mine ever since I went to the 3-day training course in October of 2010. It was the hardest 3-days of my life, actually. (GRIT training was the hardest 2-days of my life). Les Mills knows how to create great fitness experiences for everyone, and they train their instructors well.

It’s a long process to get certified (check out my tips on how to become a Les Mills’ instructor), but it’s one of THE best decisions I’ve ever made. I was BORN to teach fitness. And Les Mills makes it an incredible experience every single time I step in front of that room!

BodyPUMP Release 84 Review

I am still totally obsessed with teaching BP, and I am getting stronger from consistently teaching it (by adding more weight to the bar when it feels too easy for me).

Track 1 – Warmup. Song: “Let’s Go” Here we lift the lightest weight of the class for this track, just so the body gets used to lifting a bit of weight. This also allows the body to warm up and prepares the body for hard work to come, and reduces the risk of injury. This song has a really fun, catchy chorus, and it totally makes me want to sing along! Like last time it does have a lot of quick transitions, but it keeps it interesting. I like how we include moves from all tracks to get the body full prepared to do those moves with heavier weight later. My weight selection: 25 lbs. <—weight listed does not include weight of the bar (1-2 lbs.)

Track 2 – Squats. Song: “Turn the Tables” We put triple to quadruple our warmup weight on the bar for the quads and glutes, as these larger muscle groups comprise the legs and butt and are strong. This squats track we stand in a wider stance which forces the glutes to work harder and reduces lower back tension. Woot! This track has only 2 sets, but beware, they are LONG. I love the inclusion of bottom-halves in the middle of each set too, as it’s a nice way to fire up the legs & butt and get them ‘pre-fatigued’ before some slower work. My weight selection: 60 lbs.

Track 3 – Chest. Song: “Welcome to the Jungle” Totally do NOT care for this song (it’s the only song in the release I don’t like), so this one is a bit harder for me to enjoy. The track has shorter sets to begin with, a quick break, and then we finish off with a set that is about 2 minutes long! Hello, that is TOUGH. My chest was on fire by the end thanks to all those chest presses ! My weight selection: 40 lbs.

Track 4 – Back. Song: “Because the Night” This is a simple back track–meaning, no new innovations, so it’s best to add weight to your normal back weight so you can really work to stack weight on the bar & deliver more intensity & more results. There is a combo with clean and presses and bent-over deadrows, and then a bunch of wide rows. OUCH! These powerful moves use the muscles in the entire body to move & drive the bar-which means a HUGE heart rate jump & serious calories burnt. Not to mention the crazy muscles we build. My weight selection: 45 lbs.

Track 5 – Triceps. Song: “Scream” This track is MY favorite one! I LOVE the song. Love it. It totally is upbeat and awesome. So in this track we being by using the barbell<–make sure you add MORE weight than normal. You’ll feel it, I promise! We do a new move called the Triceps Kickback Row, and it’s an integrated exercise, so use a heavy plate. LOVE this new innovation. It is a kicker to those arms, baby! My weight selection: 35 lbs (bar) & 10 lbs for the plate work

Track 6 – Biceps. Song: “Crazy” OH yes, this song & track are crazzzzzzy! This track is sooo tough. Like my arms hurt so bad this entire week! We get to bust out a whole bunch of single biceps curls & bottom-halves with hardly no recovery, and it’s a long song too. This one you want to stay with your same weight on the bar, or use the option of plates. (Most of the gyms I work for do not have plates that can allow for that option, so most of my classes I’ll use the bar. Some gyms we’ll use the plated option, which changes the training stimulus in a nice way). My weight selection: 25 lbs.

Track 7 – Lunges. Song: “Where Have You Been” A lunge track that allows you to choose either barbell or plates, but the barbell is going to give a greater load (with the plates available, it’d be hard to hold them all). The song is pretty good, and the moves are fine, but it’s sort of a boring track, and not too hard. I feel like if they had added more lunges I would’ve liked it more? I was kind of disappointed with this one. I love me some jump squats though, so I am glad they added those in! but the moves are. There are also a few rounds of squats (woot!) in there. I think I should try to go heavier on this one because it wasn’t toooo bad. My weight selection (for the squats/barbell lunges): 35 lbs.

Track 8 – Shoulders. Song: “Welcome to the Club 2011” This track is really fun and totally awesome, and well, TOUGH as nails. It begins with a bunch of pushups & a super fun beat–I totally love this song! We hit all the areas of the shoulders in this one -delts, rear delts, rotators, and then the front of our shoulders. We move from the floor to heavy plates to standing with lighter plates and then to bar work. You’ll see barbell overhead press and push presses at the end and they pretty much finish off your shoulders. OUCHIE. Seriously-my shoulders/arms were dyyyiinnngg by the end–I am SO sore because of this one! My weight selection: 30 lbs. on the bar, 10 lbs. & 5 lbs. plates

Track 9 – Core. Song: “Whistle” First of all, I admittedly do like this song b/c it’s catchy & pretty fun (when I first heard it I had no idea it had a ‘naughty’ connotation?! Apparently I am in my own little world). Anyways. This core track is super challenging! It starts with slow crunches (good because it forces us to think about engaging more muscles), then we go to oblique crunches (goodbye love handles!), and then side hovers & rotating side hovers. We do both sides & then we end in a hover & do walking hovers. Those about kill me off! (It’s where you start in a hover–a plank on your elbows–and then you go to plank position 1 hand at a time & then back down to hover. Over & over again.) Tough, tough stuff. My weight selection: none.

{the class itself I burned about 657 calls I think?}

Track 10 – Cooldown. Song: “Lullaby” A perfect time to take a deep breath & stretch! I like this time as it helps us release the tired muscles and I get a chance to congratulate the members. It’s those moments when you realize YOU DID it! & did 800+ reps! My weight selection: none.

Such a great release! The music rocks.

*****

Whew! Just typing it all up makes me tired! Imagine doing it?! 😉

p.s. a reader, Liz, found my blog & then she happened to come to my BodyPUMP class a few weeks ago, and now I get to see her often. How fun is that?!? Hi Liz!

Have a GREAT day ya all! <3

Have YOU tried BodyPUMP 84 yet?? If so, what is YOUR favorite song & track?? When YOU workout, what kinds of songs motivate YOU??

I love body pump and go to the class weekly. The sets sound very similar to what we did this Monday, but not entirely. What was new this week, is that the instructor had us do halves (which is what I think you mean by bottom-halves). These definitely kicked my butt! By the end of the squat set I though my muscles would explode, haha! And I could not for the life of me do chest presses this week (may be because I’ve been getting up at 4am … need rest!).
Dancy and upbeat songs motivate me the most. I def agree with you, “Welcome to the Jungle”, is not the best song for this class;). Have a great day!

It is actually okay to do while pregnant (yay!!), as LONG as your doc says you can, and it’s not going UP In exercise. So if you were doing it before, you should be able to continue (AS LONG as you’re cleared by a doc). You’ll have to make modifications obv

I love body pump and always love the new music, and really all the music. I usually end up adding the songs to my running ipod as well.

You lift a crazy amount, that is just so great. Maybe I need to try pre-workout aminos or something, but I warm up with like 10 pounds then squat with 30… not sure what’s up with me but I have a harder time putting the squat bar on my back than anything else. Of course, I only do the class once a week since I’m mostly a runner, but I still love it. Gotta love working out your whole body in one hour and having a great time doing it :).

Thanks I’ve been teaching for almost 2.5 years, so I’ve def had to work my way up this! I used to not even be able to do the biceps track with 10 lbs on my bar! Proves the BP works reeaaaallllyyy well 😉

Hi Annette!!:) I definitely Love your BodyPUMP classes and always look forward to going. You make them fun! The instructor for sure makes a difference on the class. The new release is awesome!
I think I would have to say “Whistle” is my favorite song!

It’s not a protein powder–it’s kind of like a healthy energy drink, and I TOTALLY feel a difference. It’s only 25 cals per scoop & tastes great! HEre’s some more info on it: http://aminofitmixer.com

Our body needs amino acids to perform at its best, so you can take aminos before, during, or after exercise for optimal results & performance. I love taking it before, as I really can push harder in my workouts –and it’s healthy & pretty much all natural (there is a bit of sucrose in it I think). Love it!

I think I’m in agreement with most of your review. LOVING the new warm up, squats (which, you know how I’ve been feeling about the Adele overkill, so that says a lot – it’s a great remix!!), back, triceps, and biceps. SO hard. I don’t really like the song for chest either, but the track is killer. I reduced my weight the second time and now it’s time to bump it back up. I like the lunges track, but I do think more lunges would be nice. Shoulders kill and the song totally gets stuck in my head.

This is probably one of my favorite releases (moves and music) in a while.

It’s funny how people’s opinions differ! “Welcome to the Jungle” is actually my favorite song haha. There’s something about the hard rock chorus that makes those single presses make me feel so BA! Overall though, you can NEVER have a bad workout with BodyPUMP.

I found that the first 3 were meh when I did them- like I didn’t find them challenging enough..I also did them with an instructor I don’t exactly love either. I haven’t done BP since and have been doing free weights. Seems like fun though! Wow woman you burn a lot of cals- I do high intensity cardio teaching (and work hard mind you) for the same amount of time and don’t burn that much! I guess it all depends on size as well, fitness levels etc. I don’t really use my HRM for recording cals anymore anyways- more to see if I’m consistent and how hard I’m working (to compare cals).

Hi Annette, I’ve popped in a few times and was inspired by your reviews of BODYPUMP. I recently did my own review “FItness Perks” inspired of the most recent BODYCOMBAT release. Yes, I bit your style, lo, hope you don’t mind, but it is infectious & has so much potential to connect with and motivate ppl & I’m letting you know:) I love your passion for BODYPUMP/Les Mills! I am so here with you on that. Thank you for the idea, & I guess I’ll join you for the next release of Pump too. 84 was a slammer BTW! I thought my arms were gonna fall off trying to do kickbacks with that 12.5(we don’t have the new bar system at our gym, so that was my only option). Anyway, now following for real & will be def tuned in for your thoughts on PUMP & I guess the other two programs as well. My next program will be BODY ATTACK.

Welcome, I’m Annette!

-A romantic to the very bones, I adore that I get to live happily ever after with my prince, Jared, & our daughter Lily.
-A fitness instructor by morning/evening, & an avid reader & fitness coach when I can fit it in, I've got lots of things to chat with you about, so stay awhile!
-I hold an M.S. degree in Exercise Sciences & a Minor in Nutritional Science.
-Although I am not a doctor nor a dietician, I LOVE encouraging & motivating others to get fit while I do the same. I'm happy you could join me on this blogging journey! Read More…